Henri Matisse | Orientalist Odalisque

In 1917 Matisse relocated to Cimiez on the French Riviera, a suburb of the city of Nice.

His work of the decade or so following this relocation shows a relaxation and a softening of his approach.

This "return to order" is characteristic of much art of the post-World War I period and can be compared with the neoclassicism of Picasso and Stravinsky as well as the return to traditionalism of Derain.

Henri Matisse | The Series of the Romanian Blouses

Henri Matisse | Romanian Blouse with Green Sleeves, 1937 | Cincinnati Art Museum

Henri Matisse's 'Romanian Blouse' is an exploration of composition, line, and form.

The movement of broad exuberant brushwork across the flat two-dimensional plane of the canvas emphasizes the energy of the composition and evokes the sitter's personality.

The Cincinnati Art Museum's painting is one of several paintings and drawings on a single theme - female models clothed in a boldly patterned Moroccan robes or embroidered Romanian blouses - that Matisse made in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Henri Matisse | Romanian Blouse with Green Sleeves, 1937 | Cincinnati Art Museum

Henri Matisse | Notes of a Painter, 1908

Quotes from: 'Notes d'un Peintre' (Notes of a Painter), Henri Matisse, in 'La Grande Revue', Paris, 25 December 1908; as quoted in Artists on Art - from the 14th - 20th centuries, ed. by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, 1972, London

"What I am after, above all, is expression. Sometimes it has been conceded that I have a certain technical ability but that, my ambition being limited, I am unable to proceed beyond a purely visual satisfaction such as can be procured from the mere sight of a picture.

But the purpose of a painter must not be conceived as separate from his pictorial means, and these pictorial means must be the more complete (I do not mean complicated) the deeper is his thought. I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it".

Henri Matisse | Canal du Midi, 1898

Canal du Midi belongs to a series of pictures painted by Henri Matisse near Toulouse during the winter of 1898-1899. Matisse, who left Moreau's studio in the autumn of 1897, married Amélie Parayre in January of the following year. After a brief honeymoon in London, the couple sojourned for six months in Ajaccio, Corsica.

Then, in August 1898, Matisse and his wife travelled to Toulouse, and stayed for six months with Amélie's parents.

This was the first time Matisse visited the South and he always remembered it as his first encounter with light and colour. Many of the landscapes he painted during that period, including the one we are commenting on, were probably executed outdoors, directly from the model. Yet the colour in them is not naturalistic.

Henri Matisse al Museo Hermitage di San Pietroburgo

La sala 440 del Museo Statale del Hermitage a San Pietroburgo, in Russia, è dedicata ai dipinti di Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

I celebri dipinti monumentali includono la coppia di pannelli conosciuti come Dance and Music (entrambi 1910), Family Portrait (1911), Conversation (tra il 1909-1912).

Henri Matisse | Art Quotes

• "What I am after, above all, is expression".
• "Ciò che sto cercando, soprattutto, è l'espressione".
• "I have worked to enrich my intelligence and meet my mind’s various needs, striving with all of my being for an understanding of the different interpretations of art given by the ancient and modern masters".
• "Ho lavorato per arricchire la mia intelligenza, per soddisfare le differenti esigenze del mio spirito, sforzando tutto il mio essere alla comprensione delle diverse interpretazioni dell'arte plastica date dagli antichi maestri e dai moderni".

Henri Matisse | Fauve painter / sculptor

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse [1869-1954] French painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker and designer, one of the most illustrious artists of the 20th century.

From the 1920s he enjoyed an international reputation alongside Picasso as the foremost painter of his time.

Unlike Picasso, he was a late starter in art, and he was not quite so prolific or versatile, but for sensitivity of line and beauty of colouring he stands unrivalled among his contemporaries.

Henri Matisse | Legacy / L'eredità

The first painting of Henri Matisse🎨 (31 December 1869 - 3 November 1954) acquired by a public collection was Still Life with Geraniums (1910), exhibited in the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Today, a Matisse painting can fetch as much as US $17 million.

In 2002, a Matisse sculpture, Reclining Nude I (Dawn), sold for US $9.2 million, a record for a sculpture by the artist.

Matisse's daughter Marguerite often aided Matisse scholars with insights about his working methods and his works. She died in 1982 while compiling a catalog of her father's work.

Matisse's son, Pierre Matisse, (1900-1989) opened an important modern art gallery in New York City during the 1930s.

The Pierre Matisse Gallery which was active from 1931 until 1989 represented and exhibited many European artists and a few Americans and Canadians in New York often for the first time.

He exhibited Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, André Derain, Yves Tanguy, Le Corbusier, Paul Delvaux, Wilfredo Lam, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Balthus, Leonora Carrington, Zao Wou Ki, Sam Francis, sculptors Theodore Roszak, Raymond Mason and Reg Butler, and several other important artists, including the work of Henri Matisse.

Henri Matisse's grandson, Paul Matisse, is an artist and inventor living in Massachusetts.

Matisse's great granddaughter Sophie Matisse is active as an artist in 2008.

Il primo dipinto di Matisse acquisito da una collezione pubblica era Still Life with Geraniums (1910), esposto nella Pinakothek der Moderne.

Oggi, un dipinto di Matisse può arrivare fino a 17 milioni di dollari.

Nel 2002, una scultura di Matisse, Reclining Nude I (Dawn), ha venduto per US $ 9,2 milioni, un record per una scultura dell'artista.

La figlia di Matisse, Marguerite, spesso aiutava gli studiosi di Matisse a comprendere i suoi metodi di lavoro e le sue opere. Morì nel 1982 mentre compilava un catalogo del lavoro di suo padre.

Il figlio di Matisse, Pierre Matisse, (1900-1989) aprì un'importante galleria d'arte moderna a New York negli anni '30.

La Galleria Pierre Matisse, attiva dal 1931 al 1989, rappresentava e esponeva per la prima volta molti artisti europei e pochi americani e canadesi a New York.

Ha esposto Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, André Derain, Yves Tanguy, Le Corbusier, Paul Delvaux, Wilfredo Lam, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Balthus, Leonora Carrington, Zao Wou Ki, Sam Francis, scultori Theodore Roszak, Raymond Mason e Reg Butler e molti altri artisti importanti, tra cui il lavoro di Henri Matisse.

Il nipote di Henri Matisse, Paul Matisse, è un artista e inventore che vive in Massachusetts. La pronipote di Matisse Sophie Matisse è attiva come artista nel 2008.